Irrepressible Kittening
by Kalira69
Summary: Kuro is teething, again, and Keith is on the verge of giving up. (Domestic AU fluff.) Cats & Dogs, Living Together #1.5


Written for a prompt asking for Sheith and a kitten that Tumblr appears to have held onto for a while before showing me. (I believe it was sent in before I actually posted the first chapter of Floofs.) I hope Mousie has been enjoying this series, then, and this part is added for your request.

This part of Cats & Dogs, Living Together comes between chapters one and two of Floofs.

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Shiro smothered a laugh. "Uh, baby?" he said, continuing towards where Keith was lying on the floor reading.

"I've given up." Keith said, huffing, as he turned a page, and Shiro struggled to continue keeping his laughter quiet.

Kuro was perched between Keith's shoulder blades, one paw splayed with his tiny claws - though they were growing sharper and harder by the day, it seemed - digging into Keith's tee shirt and likely his back. The other paw was toying with the little sprigs of hair escaping the messy bun tying up Keith's hair.

"It is . . . admittedly, adorable," Shiro would absolutely be grabbing his phone to take a picture if he thought he could get away with it without either Kuro or Keith or both of them moving the instant he tried, "but isn't that, er, bad for your hair?" he asked.

"Don't care any more." Keith said, sighing. He splayed one hand over his open book and rubbed his face with the other. "Too tired today. We've been playing this game all day. And he won't _stop_." He groaned. "Maybe I should just cut it, anyway."

"Oh, no!" Shiro said immediately, then bit his lip, feeling his cheeks warm. Keith, _of course_ , chose that moment to actually look over his shoulder at Shiro, just in time to see him start blushing. "I mean. . ."

Keith smiled crookedly. "You really like my hair, huh?" he asked, and tipped his head abruptly to one side, beckoning.

Shiro obeyed the summons, settling cross-legged beside Keith's shoulder. He pulled one of the thicker locks of his lover's hair out of Kuro's mouth, needle-claws sinking into his fingers in retaliation or perhaps just an attempt to keep hold of his toy.

"I really do." Shiro admitted, cheeks still warm, toying with one long, stray lock of his lover's hair and then tucking it clumsily back under one of the bands holding the messy knot together. "But. I mean, if you _want_ to cut your hair, baby. . . It's not my-"

"It's fine." Keith said lightly. He had to cock his head oddly sideways to look Shiro in the face, with Kuro sitting just below the nape of his neck, or risk dislodging the kitten. "I don't actually want to cut my hair, even if our kitten is determined to do it himself by chewing it shorter, one section at a time." he said wryly.

"Well, I'm glad for that." Shiro said, smiling and running his fingers through the shaggy lock of hair that usually fell in front of Keith's ear, pushing it back. Kuro pounced as the tail end flicked against Keith's neck, but landed on the back of Shiro's hand instead.

He pulled the kitten away as his paws stretched out for Keith's hair again, catching the curve of his ear. Keith hissed, and Shiro frowned, pinching Kuro's scruff and lifting the kitten away completely. He brought Kuro up to his chest, keeping hold of him as Keith sat up, turning his book page side down to keep his place.

"I'd ask why he never goes for _yours_ , but. . ." Keith arched an eyebrow.

Shiro laughed. "It _is_ a little harder to reach." He reached up to tug lightly at his forelock, and Keith nudged his hand away, neatening the ruffled strands. "I did wake up with him pouncing on my face that once, though." He winced at the memory.

Kuro's claws had still been much softer then, though it was only a few weeks ago. It had still been an alarming feeling to wake to, at least until he could identify the warm, furry heap falling across his eyes. Slightly ragged, stinging lines had been scratched over his cheeks and nose in the process of Kuro's flailing slide, clumsy as it was.

"Also unpleasant." Keith agreed, his thumb brushing over one of the places Shiro had borne a scratch for a while. It was all healed now, of course, but he smiled under the touch. "I think he's teething." he added.

Shiro made a confused noise, rubbing along Kuro's jaw as he purred and pushed into the touch. They'd gone through teething already - he remembered quite clearly, and he had carried the numerous pinpricks and abraded, nearly raw patches of skin on his left hand and arm for a few weeks to prove it - when Kuro was smaller.

"Baby teeth." Keith said, lips twitching with amusement. "I think he's old enough now that he's losing the baby teeth for his adult teeth. I think that's making it worse. His fascination with my hair, I mean, not him in general." he clarified.

"Oh, I suppose it would." Shiro said sympathetically. ". . .at least that means he'll probably stop eventually, though, and probably soon?" he suggested. "Grow out of it?"

Keith shrugged, laughing quietly. "I suppose there's that. I don't really know much about it. Just what I looked up the other day." he said.

"What made you think he's teething again?" Shiro asked, automatically moving to catch Kuro as he squirmed to leap out of Shiro's hold, then thinking better of it and putting the kitten down, allowing him to dash off across the floor. "I thought he was all done with it." he admitted.

"I found a lone kitten fang that was no longer in his mouth." Keith said, grinning. "It was very . . . pointed, as reminders go." he added wryly. "Especially because I stepped on it."

"Ouch." Shiro said, smiling.

"Yeah, well." Keith snagged a jingling ball as it bounced past him, and flicked it back the way it had come, bouncing right between Kuro's paws and under his little body. He nearly tumbled over himself in his eagerness to catch up to it. "I guess relaxing time is over, Kuro, mm?"

Kuro ran full-tilt into the side of a bookcase and Shiro winced, but the kitten didn't appear to have felt it, rebounding and continuing his run after the ball.

Keith retrieved his book and rose in a graceful stretch, offering a hand to Shiro. He took it and let Keith help him up, watching Kuro skitter around the floor. "So much energy." he said wryly, thinking of a few early mornings after late nights when he had wished he could borrow some of the boundless energy the kitten displayed.

Kuro tumbled onto the floor, rolled over in no particular direction, and kept running.

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I am still accepting prompts on my Tumblr (Kalira9), feel free to hit me up there with requests or just to chat!


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